Lancia Gamma

The flagship of the new approach.

In the mid-1970s, the Lancia brand made its return by offering a genuine flagship. The new Lancia Gamma maintained the long-standing front-wheel drive with a new boxer engine in two bodywork options: an original, sleek hatchback with a truncated tail and a highly elegant three-volume coupé.

After entering the Fiat orbit in the late 1960s, the Lancia brand was given a new lease of life to develop other projects. The result was two plans for two families of cars: the first to go public was the Beta, debuted at the Turin Motor Show in November 1972. However, the ambition among Fiat’s senior management was to maintain its hallmark over the years as a Turin-based luxury brand, by once again producing a genuine flagship, a vehicle in a higher category than the Beta.

To create the new Lancia Gamma, intense effort in the design team was focused on the choice of engine, where displacement, power and torque appropriate to the car's calibre were essential. Their various solutions included the glorious V6 seen in the Flaminia, which previously made the fame of the Aurelia, and the evolution of the Flavia boxer engine, with its displacement increased to two litres. Having also put aside the V6 in the Dino Ferrari and Fiat models that would later be used in the Stratos, the decision was made to design and construct a new engine with four opposed cylinders, where the only feature shared with the Flavia was its boxer architecture; it was completely different otherwise. With extensive use of aluminium, the sophisticated new unit was one of the lightest: the brand-new 2.5-litre 4-cylinder delivered 140 hp very roundly, as befitted a genuine flagship. To comply with Italian legislation levying a higher VAT rate on cars with displacements exceeding two litres, a 1,999-cc unit delivering 120 hp was produced based on the 2.5-liter boxer.

The overall architecture of the Lancia Gamma showed great attention to safety, although the standout feature was the design of the bodywork, produced in conjunction with Pininfarina in an unconventional manner for its time: a hatchback with sleek lines and a truncated tail. The brightness of the spacious passenger compartment was improved greatly by the large amounts of glazing: three windows on the sides and a big, fixed and heavily inclined rear window.

To maintain the traditional Lancia style, attention was also paid to the interior: the back seats were contoured to provide two seats as comfortable and enveloping as those in the front. It was ideal for the family for the considerable load capacity of the boot, with a rear door that opened vertically and the end of the structure following on from the rear window as an original Venetian blind. Further refinements – such as high-quality fabrics, height-adjustable steering wheel, four electric windows and wing mirror adjustment, equally electric – were added to define its elegant and prestigious style.

The main features of the Lancia Gamma that debuted in Geneva in 1976 were luxury and comfort. Alongside the elegant Gamma Coupé, the second series came to be four years later, with refined mechanical technology by adopting electronic injection.

The new flagship was officially unveiled in 1976, in the debut of the Lancia Gamma at the Geneva International Motor Show. On the stand, the saloon car was flanked by the elegant coupé version proposed by Pininfarina and designed by Aldo Brovarone.

Pininfarina created the Lancia Gamma Coupé by shortening the wheelbase on which the Biella-based designer produced a sleek two-door, three-volume grand tourer. With sharp edges, its proportions were particularly notable: featuring a windscreen and rear window with marked, very similar tilts, it sported a long, low bonnet and a rear door with two sloping ribs, lowering the central section in an original, aerodynamic style. The large bumpers are also well connected, demonstrating the attention accorded to regulations in foreign markets. The automatic height adjustment of the headlights was useful and technically refined.

The elegance and accuracy of the coupé version's design risked overshadowing the original saloon car, but despite being unveiled together in 1976, the coupés arrived in dealerships over a year after their debut in Geneva, leaving room for the sleek four-door to become more popular.

Between late 1978 and early ’79, mechanical changes were made to improve reliability. Further updates came in the 1980 second series, bringing with it the adoption of the Bosch “L-Jetronic” electronic injection on the larger displacement engine that took the name Lancia Gamma 2.5 i.e., whereas the 2.5-litre carburettor version remained in production for export only.

In addition to the engine, the new features of the Lancia Gamma second series lay in the grille, standardised with all other Lancia models to offer once again, but horizontally, the typical shield form seen in previous cars. The front bumper was also modified to improve air flow through the new intake, and the alloy wheels were redesigned for the lowered tyres. In the interior, the dashboard was completely revamped, with a digital clock that had already appeared in the final models from the first series, along with a knob and upholstered gear lever. The seats also came in a new design, including with optional fabrics by Ermenegildo Zegna, timed courtesy lights and an adjustable reading light.

As well as the saloon car, the Lancia Gamma Coupé was also refreshed: the 2.5-litre only came in an electronic injection version and was also available with four-speed automatic transmission. In the interior, the same changes were made as in the saloon car, to the dashboard and the ceiling lights, whereas the seats – already different from the first-series saloon – were less futuristic but more enveloping for both the legs and the shoulders. The driving position was excellent, one of the best among the GT cars at the time, especially in terms of comfort, suitable for driving long distances at high speed.

Even before the launch of the second series, in 1978 Pininfarina designed an original road-legal version based on the coupé: the T-Roof spider with a removable sunroof anchored to a sturdy central/rear roll bar. In late 1980, Pininfarina also brought the coupé’s design to the saloon car’s floor by launching the Scala, a three-volume, four-door sports car with a silhouette very similar to the coupé but with two more doors and the space of a hatchback saloon. Long before the market shifted towards station wagons, Pininfarina came up with the Olgiata a curious version with a tailgate but only two side doors, made sportier by a spoiler between the roof and rear door.

The three models from the Piedmont coachbuilder were juxtaposed with two proposals from Giorgetto Giugiaro’s Italdesign: the first, in 1978, was known as the Megagamma. Giugiaro raised the bodywork considerably to increase the entire volume: the result was a very angular hatchback, the prototype of which recalled Giugiaro’s design for New York taxis two years earlier. The second concept car arrived in 1980: the Gamma 3V, another three-volume interpretation of the Gamma saloon car. Still in perfect shape, the model was used by Lancia managers at the time and is now one of the cars on display at the Stellantis Heritage Hub in Turin.

In 1984, production ended to pass the baton to the Lancia Thema, the flagship that became the blue car par excellence, blending elegance, luxury and performance.